Mr Hall said: ‘He was knocked to the ground and the caterpillar wheels went over him and completely mashed his leg.’

A cohort of caterpillars bands together to travel in a long column, looking to all the world like the dangerous body of a single, large snake.

Inside is rosewood luxury, downstairs bunks and beds, and under them, two six hundred horsepower caterpillars capable of pushing them across the sea at thirty-five knots.

Origin

Late Middle English: perhaps from a variant of Old Frenchchatepelose, literally 'hairy cat', influenced by obsolete piller 'ravager.' The association with “cat” is found in other languages, e.g., Swiss German Teufelskatz (literally 'devil's cat'), Lombardgatta (literally 'cat'). Compare with French chaton, English catkin, resembling hairy caterpillars.

The caterpillar first appeared in English in the form catyrpel, probably an alteration of the Old French word chatepelose, literally ‘hairy cat’. English used to have a word piller, meaning ‘a plunderer or ravager’ (related to pillage) and, given the damage that caterpillars do to plants, it is likely that this influenced how the word is spelt.